A Don’t panic! special update: What is the U.S. mission in Afghanistan?

Dear reader(s),

In recent days, I’ve experienced a surprising emotion: nostalgia for the Bush era.

It’s not nostalgia for his administration’s catastrophic pairing of cronyism and incompetence.

It’s not nostalgia for his “kinda-drunk John Wayne with a speech impediment” public speaking style.

Nor is it nostalgia for the way Bush turned great words like “liberty” and “democracy” into jingoistic mantras, or the fact that he so sullied the word “freedom” that the people rebuilding the World Trade Center have rejected the name Freedom Tower because it sounds too obnoxious.

Nope.

I’m nostalgic for focused anger and healthy skepticism directed at the White House.

Not the millionaire faux-populist anger of people like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs or the “I want him to fail, because I care more about Republicans than I do my country” anger of Rush Limbaugh.

I’m concerned that some of Obama’s Bush-like policy initiatives are getting a free pass from the press and public simply because Obama isn’t Bush.